{"id":14428,"date":"2014-03-18T14:05:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T19:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/michelle-obama-to-visit-china-focus-on-education\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:22:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:22:33","slug":"michelle-obama-to-visit-china-focus-on-education","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/03\/18\/michelle-obama-to-visit-china-focus-on-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Obama to visit China, focus on education"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-256538\" alt=\"FT_china-public-priorities\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/03\/FT_china-public-priorities.png\" width=\"315\" height=\"554\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First Lady Michelle Obama <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2014\/03\/03\/first-lady-michelle-obama-travel-china-march-19-26-2014\">heads to China<\/a> this week on a trip intended to focus on the importance of education, as well as a visit with Madame Peng, the spouse of China\u2019s President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given other economic and environmental problems, however, education is not high on the minds of the Chinese public. In <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/11\/08\/inflation-corruption-inequality-top-list-of-chinese-publics-concerns\/\">our 2013 survey<\/a>, only 24% in China said education was a <i>very<\/i> big problem, which lagged far behind those who identified rising prices (59%), corrupt officials (53%) and the gap between the rich and the poor (52%) as major problems. However, the issue has picked up steam since 2008, when only 11% said education was a very big problem.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chinese parents have expressed concern about putting too much pressure on their children\u2019s academic achievements. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/08\/22\/americans-say-kids-need-more-pressure-in-school-chinese-say-less\/\">2011 survey<\/a>, 68% in China said parents put too much pressure on students, the only country surveyed where a majority said this.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The focus on education issues, and not the politically sensitive topic of human and women\u2019s rights in China, has drawn <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/on-china-trip-as-in-other-matters-michelle-obama-likely-to-steer-clear-of-controversy\/2014\/03\/09\/62591b18-a4c3-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html\">some attention from scholars<\/a> who point out that First Lady Hillary Clinton met some of these issues head on in her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1995\/09\/06\/world\/hillary-clinton-in-china-details-abuse-of-women.html\">1995 visit to Beijing<\/a>. And in fact, the issue of China\u2019s human rights record remains a concern held by people across the globe.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In spite of China\u2019s growing economic and military power, its international image <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2013\/07\/18\/americas-global-image-remains-more-positive-than-chinas\/\">still lags behind<\/a> that of the United States. And when the Pew Research Center surveyed people last year in 38 countries, asking them if China respects the personal freedoms of its people, a median of only 36% said yes.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nevertheless, the issue of human rights does not resonate much with the American public. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/09\/18\/chapter-2-threats-and-concerns\/#debt-trade-deficit-and-loss-of-jobs-top-concerns\">2012 survey<\/a>, only 48% of Americans saw China\u2019s policy on human rights as a <i>very<\/i> serious problem, far behind concerns about economic issues between the two countries.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Given other economic and environmental problems, however, education is not high on the minds of the Chinese public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"5a0c65f948ec7f72c30a3326dbec61e0","termId":624}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[75,361,93],"bylines":[624],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[506,514],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14428","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-barack-obama","category-education","category-issue-priorities","bylines-jacob-poushter","formats-short-read","regions-countries-china","regions-countries-international","research-teams-global"],"label":"Short 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